Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe yesterday said the prevalence of tuberculosis, HIV and malaria infections has substantially declined in the last two decades.

Sharing the data yesterday, the minister at the same time said more patients are receiving treatment for the same, courtesy of the Global Fund grant kitty,

Kagwe announced the possibility of Kenya pledging more resources to the kitty next month at the 7th Global Fund replenishment conference in New York, USA.

In 2019, at the Sixth Replenishment in France, the government pledged Sh719.4 million. For instance, between 2013 and 2021, the HIV programme yielded a 67 per cent decline in annual Aids-related deaths, according to Kagwe and  Treasury.

“This reflects an increase of 83 per cent in the number of people living with HIV that are on life-saving antiretroviral treatment, from 0.66 million people in 2013 to 1.2 million people in 2021,” the CS said.

He was speaking during the 7th Global Fund replenishment round-table meeting that brought together civil society organisations, healthcare practitioners and the diplomatic community.

The meeting sought to showcase the Global Fund’s success story since it was founded in 2002.

Kagwe pointed out in a speech delivered by Health Principal Secretary Susan Mochache: “The support from Global Fund to procure TB drugs, diagnostic equipment and technology has contributed to a treatment success rate of 85 per cent and a decline in annual TB incidence.”

Similarly, it emerged that the malaria programme support has contributed to the overall reduction of the malaria burden with the national level prevalence declining from 8.2 per cent in 2015 to 5.6 per cent in 2020. “In this regard, I am happy to note that Global Fund has supported the procurement and distribution of over 8.5 million doses of first-line anti-malaria drugs as well as 25 million mosquito nets,” he said.

Success rate

Since 2002, Global Fund has been a key partner in advancing access to universal health services in the country; a highlight that was also echoed by Stephen Muiruri, the Global Fund coordinator at the National Treasury.

Data with the government shows that to date, Global Fund has signed in favour of Kenya, grants amounting to over Sh215.6 billion, while the country has contributed an estimated Sh838.4 million to the kitty in the last two decades.

“These grants have supplemented the government’s efforts to address the three diseases of global concern, while at the same time strengthening our health service delivery, infrastructure, and community systems,” Muiruri who was representing Treasury CS Ukur Yatani noted.

He revealed that already, Kenya has honoured three-quarters of its 2019 pledge in France during the sixth replenishment conference, disbursing Sh479.1 million out of the Sh718.6 million.